From being one of the most anticipated PlayStation 3 games, Killzone 2 has gone a bit quiet in the last few months. Expectations are extraordinarily high for this shooter sequel and delivering upon those means dishing out world-class multiplayer to juxtapose the single player experience. Today, we're giving you the first hard look at the surprisingly rich multiplayer side of Killzone 2.

Killzone 2 combines traditional multiplayer elements and game types with contemporary features for a highly promising experience. Five game types: Capture and Hold, Search and Retrieve, Assassination, Body Count, and Search and Destroy reinterpret classic multiplayer modes. You're welcome to play any mode on its own, although two multi-mode options allow you to play all five games consecutively. Warzone plunks a maximum of 32 players onto a map with each round moving to a different game type. A smaller variation entitled Mini-Frag offers the same format but with only eight players instead.

The modes are fairly self-explanatory, their names denoting your objective during play. Capture and Hold matches are identical to a game of King of the Hill where the goal is to seize nodes and earn points for your team. Search and Retrieve involves grabbing propaganda packs that spawn on the map and then hiking them to a designated point. Assassination marks one player at random for death and that person's team must defend him or her while the opposing team is charged with the kill under a strict time limit. Body Count serves up classic deathmatch, albeit team-based. Lastly, Search and Destroy tasks you with setting explosive charges at a specific location and then defending them until the timer runs down.

Assassination, Body Count, and Search and Retrieve look to be the highlights, whereas Capture and Hold seems neutral and Search and Destroy borders on underwhelming. The previously referenced trio does an excellent job of amping up the action by focusing on team dynamics to a better degree than the other two. Certainly any winning team on any mode must cooperate, but the balancing on these three game types seems to work better than on the other two. In other words, Capture and Hold and Search and Destroy aren't nearly as fun as the others. Specifically with regards to Capture and Hold, it's slightly too difficult to set charges. A bit of tweaking could easily change this, though.

Large maps contribute to balancing. Three were available at the time we previewed the game: Salamun Market, Radec Academy, and Blood Gracht. Each takes a snapshot of an environment featured in the single player campaign, twisting its alleyways, halls, and room into a labyrinthine multiplayer map. Salamun Market is absolutely humongous, set in the middle of the Helghan capitol with burning black buildings and wide open spaces for combat. Radec Academy, on the other hand, offers enclosed fighting in locker rooms and classrooms. The tighter, more confined spaces are preferable since you're able to track opponents and predict movement more easily; however, the balancing is coming along just fine among all three maps.